Cyllonium

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Cyllonium is an extinct genus of true bugs. It belongs to the group Cicadomorpha and the family Palaeontinidae (an extinct group of giant cicadas). The genus includes two species: Cyllonium boidusvalianum and Cyllonium hewitsonianum, both described by English entomologist John Obadiah Westwood in 1854.

Discovery
The two species were found in the Early Cretaceous period, specifically the Berriasian age, from the Purbeck Formation at Durdlestone Bay in England.

Taxonomy
The fossils are fragmentary and were initially described without detailed description. They were once thought to be butterflies, but they are now generally considered to be palaeontinids (extinct cicadas).

Species
- Cyllonium boidusvalianum
- Cyllonium hewitsonianum

See also
- Cicadomorpha
- Lepidoptera fossil record

References
Early work by John Phillips (1855) and J. O. Westwood (1854) described and discussed Cyllonium and its fossils.